Assistant doctor salary 2024: What does an assistant doctor earn?

How much do you earn as a junior doctor? This depends on your employer, the federal state and your professional experience. In 2024, the starting salary for assistant doctors is between €5,063 and €5,490 gross per month, depending on the clinic. Your salary as a junior doctor can increase significantly over the years as you gain more experience and further training in your profession. After five years of further training, you can expect to earn an average of 6,600 euros. You can find out which collective agreements and jobs apply to you as a trainee doctor in this article.

Starting salary as an assistant doctor

As a junior doctor, you can expect an attractive salary immediately after completing your studies. As a rule, the starting salary in the first year is between 5,063 euros and 5,490 euros gross per month. The average gross annual salary of a junior doctor is an impressive 65,490 euros.

At university hospitals, where the salary of assistant doctors is regulated by collective agreements, you start with at least 4,600 euros per month. By the 6th year as a junior doctor, you can expect to earn around 6,000 euros. You also earn well as a career starter at municipal hospitals: in this case, the starting salary is around 4,695 euros in the first year and rises to 6,035 euros in the sixth year.

Private clinics also offer attractive starting salaries for medical assistants. At the Sana clinics, you can start with a junior doctor salary of 4,818 euros, at Asklepios with 4,830 euros and at KMG even with 4,856.36 euros. This means that as a junior doctor you will be one of the top earners among graduates right from the start and can expect an annual salary of over 60,000 euros. As you can see, the salary of junior doctors is already very decent when you start out. Especially if you are fresh out of university.

Starting salary as an assistant doctor (table)

However, please note that after the 6th year as a junior doctor, the collective agreements do not provide for any further salary increases for doctors. Nevertheless, you have the opportunity to earn additional income by working as a locum doctor. As you are not bound by collective agreements in this role, you can negotiate individual hourly wages and thus further optimise your salary.

Salary at municipal clinics (TV-Ärzte VKA)

In municipal hospitals, the salary for assistant doctors is based on the collective agreement for doctors (TV-Ärzte VKA). This collective agreement defines the starting salaries and salary increases for doctors. Until 30 June 2024, the following collective agreements apply to the earnings of assistant doctors in municipal hospitals:

TV-Ärzte VKA municipal hospitals (table)

According to TV-Ärzte VKA (Collective Labour Agreement of the Association of Municipal Employers' Associations), the starting salary for assistant doctors rises with increasing professional experience. From the sixth year in this collective agreement, the doctor reaches a gross monthly salary of 6,797.77 euros. This may be supplemented by allowances for services or on-call duties, which increase the basic salary.

Salary at university hospitals (TV-Ärzte TdL)

As a junior doctor at one of the 36 university hospitals in Germany, your salary is based on the collective agreement of the federal states (TV-Ärzte TdL). This agreement is negotiated by the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder (TdL) for each hospital and regulates the question "What does an assistant doctor earn" down to the cent. At the beginning of your career as a junior doctor, you can expect a gross monthly starting salary of 5,308.41 euros. Over the course of your specialist training within the hospitals, your salary will increase continuously until you are earning 6,814.12 euros gross per month in your sixth year.

In addition to your basic salary, as a junior doctor at a university hospital you will receive bonuses for working at night, on Sundays and on public holidays. The bonuses amount to 20 % for night work, 25 % for Sunday work and 135 % for public holiday work without a substitute rest day or 35 % with a substitute rest day. With a five-day working week, you are entitled to 30 working days' holiday per year. If you work permanent alternating shifts or shift work, you can take additional holiday.

TV-Ärzte TdL (table)

The table shows the current salaries for doctors at university hospitals in accordance with the TV-Ärzte TdL from 1 April 2024. The pay groups range from Ä1 for assistant doctors to Ä4 for senior consultants, with each group divided into six experience levels. As experience and responsibility increase, the gross salary rises accordingly. These regular salary adjustments help to ensure that you receive an attractive and performance-related income as a doctor at a university hospital.

Assistant doctor salary according to TVöD-Bund

The collective agreement for the federal public service (TVöD-Bund) regulates the remuneration of assistant doctors in federal institutions. After successfully completing your medical studies and obtaining your licence to practise medicine, you start as an assistant doctor in pay group 14, level 1. With increasing professional experience, you will be promoted to higher levels, which are accompanied by more attractive salaries. You can find the exact amounts in the collective agreements of the TVöD-Bund.

In the course of your further training as a specialist and with increasing responsibility, you can be promoted to pay group 15. The level of your salary depends on your individual classification and the pay scale information of the TVöD-Bund. Thanks to clearly structured pay scales, the public sector as an employer offers you transparent prospects for your salary development.

Assistant doctor salary TVöD-Bund (table)

In addition to the basic salary, you benefit from attractive additional benefits in the public sector. These include, for example, a company pension scheme, special annual payments and the assumption of training costs. With an employment contract in accordance with TVöD-Bund, your salary is covered by collective agreements and you will receive performance-related pay for your commitment to patient care.

Assistant doctor salary at denominational clinics

In denominational hospitals in Germany, such as those run by Caritas or Diakonie, there are generally no standard collective agreements. Instead, these organisations determine their working conditions and salaries for assistant doctors independently. Nevertheless, they often base the remuneration of assistant doctors on the collective agreements of municipal hospitals or the recommendations of the Marburger Bund in order to remain attractive in the competition for qualified doctors with professional experience.

As a junior doctor at an organisation such as Caritas, you can expect a basic salary of around €5,288.32. In diaconal hospitals, the starting salary for assistant doctors is slightly higher at an average of €5,682.58. However, depending on the internal employment contract guidelines and which organisation the hospital belongs to, deviations are possible. With increasing experience and responsibility within the hospital, for example after obtaining the title of medical specialist, salaries for doctors generally rise in line with the increases in municipal institutions.

Generally speaking, as a junior doctor in a denominational hospital, you can expect a salary that is roughly on a par with municipal hospitals. However, it is difficult to give exact figures due to the individual organisation. Ultimately, the salary you can achieve in negotiations depends on your qualifications, specialisation and regional circumstances.

Assistant doctor salary at private clinics

As a junior doctor at a private clinic, you can also expect an attractive salary. However, the exact amount you earn depends on the clinic in question and the individual collective agreements. You can find an overview of salaries in the most well-known private clinics in the following table:

The table shows that salaries for junior doctors in the first six years vary only slightly between the different private hospital groups. In the first year at Asklepios, for example, you can expect to earn around 5,170 euros gross per month, while at Helios you will earn around 5,200 euros. By the sixth year, salaries rise to up to 6,700 euros at Helios.

In addition to your basic salary, as a junior doctor in private clinics you will often also receive bonuses for working outside of regular working hours, such as night or weekend shifts. The exact amount of these bonuses depends on the applicable collective agreement and can significantly increase the hourly wage.

Overall, private clinics offer attractive salaries for junior doctors, as these increase continuously over the years. However, when choosing your future employer, you should not only consider the salary, but also other factors such as working atmosphere, training opportunities and work-life balance.

Assistant doctor salary on average

As an assistant doctor in Germany, you can expect an average gross salary of €4,484 per month, which corresponds to an annual salary of €53,808 (conservatively calculated). However, the salary varies depending on experience, gender, employer and region. While 25% of assistant doctors earn a maximum of €3,824, another 25% receive at least €5,273 per month.

The average starting salary for assistant doctors is € 4,101 gross. The average salary increases with age and experience:

• 30 years: € 4,331
• 35 years: € 4,687
• 40 years: € 4,882
• 45 years: € 4,888
• 50 years: € 4,925

There is also a pay gap between the sexes: male assistant doctors earn an average of €4,589 per month, while their female colleagues receive €4,367. The size of the employer also plays a role:

Salaries can also vary depending on the federal state. While assistant doctors in Hamburg earn an average of €4,660, the salary in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony is €4,457. Bavaria and Hesse offer similarly high salaries to Hamburg and Berlin.

In municipal hospitals, the salary for assistant doctors rises from an average of € 4,695 gross in the first year to € 5,873 in the fifth year. At university hospitals, the average is €4,938 in the first year and €6,178 in the fifth year. Private facilities such as the Helios clinics offer starting salaries between €5,052.93 and €6,218.14 gross per month.

Remuneration for services and on-call duty

As a junior doctor, you can supplement your gross salary with various services and jobs. It is worth taking a closer look at the relevant collective agreements (TV), as the bonuses vary depending on the organisation of the clinic and your experience as a specialist. For on-call duty, for example, you will receive €32.76/hour in pay group I, while in pay group IV it is already €45.77/hour.

Night work is also paid extra: In pay group I, you receive €6.05/hour more, in pay group IV it is an additional €8.45/hour. There are also bonuses on public holidays, depending on the pay grade and time off in lieu. Municipal and university hospitals offer similar bonuses, although private organisations such as Asklepios, Helios or Sana have different regulations in some cases.

On-call duty is remunerated pro rata, depending on the on-call duty level between 60% and 95% of time. You can receive up to €60 gross extra per night for on-call duty. Please note, however, that the hourly wage plus supplements applies to on-call duty as soon as you start work on site. You should therefore clarify the exact conditions in advance, such as the number of night shifts and on-call shifts as well as remuneration details, so that you can better estimate your total salary.

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